Advances in technology have led to numerous improvements in imaging capabilities for medical use. One area that has enjoyed some of the most beneficial advances is that of endoscopic surgical procedures. These procedures can be less invasive than traditional surgical procedures because they allow a patient's internal body portions, including the surgical site, to be examined (and sometimes treated) by inserting an imaging device called an endoscope into a small port in the patient.
Typically, to initiate an endoscopic procedure, a trocar is first utilized to create a small port, or pathway, to the surgical site of interest inside the patient. More particularly, the trocar is first inserted into a narrow endoscopic tube, or cannula. The trocar is then used to puncture the patient's tissue, distal portion first, to reach the surgical site. The trocar's distal portion typically terminates in a relatively sharp tip (i.e., insertion tip) to facilitate puncturing the tissue and reaching the surgical site. Once the surgical site is reached, the trocar can then be removed, leaving the cannula as the port.
When a trocar is used to puncture the patient's internal tissue, there is a risk that an organ or blood vessel may be accidentally ruptured. This is especially true when the initial port of a procedure is created because the trocar's first insertion into the patient cannot be viewed from inside the patient's body with an endoscope through another port.
To help mitigate this first-insertion risk, viewing trocars have been developed to allow the trocar's tip to be observed as it is inserted (i.e., punctures the patient) and passes through the patient's tissue to the surgical site. To accomplish this, viewing trocars are typically configured with a window at or near their distal portion and a hollow portion to allow an endoscope to be inserted. The endoscope can then be used to view the tip's insertion and passage through the patient's tissue through the window.
To provide a sufficient field of view to observe the tip, non-angled (zero-degree) endoscopes rather than angled endoscopes are typically used to create an initial port. Angled endoscopes, however, are commonly used and preferred for most other parts of many endoscopic procedures. This makes using a non-angled endoscope for such procedures inconvenient, costly, and inefficient, especially when the endoscope is a limited use, re-posable, or single-use/disposable endoscope.